Different paths
by eola-48
Summary: They had, in fact, chosen their paths ... they were now, in fact, on different sides of a Please Thank you :)


The sun beat down hot on the back of his neck, the wind blew softly across his cheek and tinkling bird whistles hit his ears. But Severus Snape noticed none of that. He was too lost in thought.

The events of that lunchtime kept racing through his mind. The yelling, the accusatory looks, the insults; But he didn't care. He didn't care what his father thought. He didn't come back for him. He had no intention of spending Easter with him and his untalented muggle, arrogant, ignorant brutality. No, he had far more important priorities...

Absentmindedly he gently rubbed his left forearm, feeling the gentle tingling of his tender flesh. Any moment he'd feel it burn. Once again reminding him why he was here, what he was doing. Once again reminding him of his long awaited importance; His long awaited big break...  
A sound of, quite close, jittering laughter hit his ears. He looked up, shocked. He thought he was alone. What he saw made his heart beat through his mouth.  
Quick as lighting he jumped behind a nearby trunk, dodging down, and hiding enclosed behind the surrounding brush. Slowly he poked his head out, getting a better look at the horrific seen before him. About 20 metres away on the long stretch if grass stood a swing set, which at that moment was creaking loudly (so loudly he wondered how he hadn't heard it earlier). The source of the noise came from the two, laughing teenagers, swinging energetically. On the right swing swung a messy haired bespectacled boy, a sight Severus often associated with the devil (although he didn't believe in such things); On the left swung a beauty of Graceful flowing Red hair, round almond shaped, stunningly green, eyes and soft round cheeks, which at this moment were flushed with colour, this was a sight that awaited Severus in his deepest fantasies.

"Come on Evans, are you or are you not a witch!? Higher! Higher!"  
The childish voice of James potter reached Severus' ears as he watch them kick at the air like it was a ball in footy. He watched as they swung higher and higher, pushing the poor old, rusty, creaking swings to breaking point, all the while noticing how they swung perfectly in sync. He let out a soft snort, quietly ruffling the leaves sticking up his nose; how ironic was it, that like so many years before, he would find himself behind the same bush, watching the same girl, swinging majestically on the same swing set; the only difference was that then she was beside her dull, blond, muggle sister he never liked, and now she was beside the arrogant messy-haired Wizard he'd always hate; and really, he thought, that made all the difference.

"Okay, ready?" Lilies excited, bell-like squeal flittered through the shrubbery "On the count of three! One, two, three, JUMP!" And in mimic of so many years before they jumped. Soaring through the air like acrobats, staying up far too long and landing far too lightly. He watched her graceful arch through the air with a feeling of poignant nostalgia, what he wouldn't give for it to be 8 years ago, and for that to be him landing beside her. Upon landing the two embraced, lily laughing into his chest ("So Potter, how did that compare to your 50 feet fall from a broom?" "Well it was certainly less painful"). Their laughter appeared to be so strong that it pulled them to the asphalt below, and out of Severus' sight, where he could only assume that they were snogging.  
He slowly retreated back into the underbrush, leaning back in silent incomprehension. He just couldn't believe she'd brought him here; to this place, to her childhood; To THEIR childhood; where THEY'D met, where they'd become friends. The betrayal seemed to cut through him in a way he couldn't quite explain.

Really? What was the big deal? He knew they were together; seen them walking hand in hand down hallways; seen them laughing across the court yard, or the library; he'd even seen them snogging in deserted secret passageways (Which Severus had funnily enough found out from following Potter and Black). So why did this shock him so much?  
"Come on, we better get up if we want to catch that muggle flick..."  
Severus peeked back over the brush, just in time to see the highly coloured and slightly dishevelled Lily pulling Potter up off the ground, and allowing him to wrap his arm around her shoulder as they descended in the opposite direction towards the street.  
"... And we can share a popcorn, AND if you're lucky, the movie will suck and we can snogg"

"Gee, being a muggle is fun."  
Severus dropped back into the underbrush, listening to their giggling laughter fade down the street.  
It was in that moment, listening to the avid, happy, laughter filled conversation, that it hit him. It hit him in a way the last couple months hadn't; because she wasn't just holding his hand before classes, or laughing at his jokes in the library, or snogging him in empty classrooms and hallways, no. It hit him that She'd brought him home, introduced him to her parents , to her park, to her child hood, her world; She had shown him where she grew up, had shared with him a piece of her world, which previously only Severus had shared. Had made James 'arrogant toe rag' potter the bridge between her two worlds. It hit him with a force that knocked the wind out of him; A force which stabbed his heart in a thousand possible places; a force which, quite shamefully, brought the sparkling beginnings of tears to his eyes. It hit him that this wasn't a fling that was just going to go away. It hit him.

She was in love. It was apparent in her eyes when she talked to him. In her body language when she hugged him, held his hand, or just stood near him with his arms around her shoulders or waste. She loved him in a way that she had never loved, nor ever will love Severus. It hit him. She loved him. It hit him over and over again. She loved him. She, Lily Evans, was in love with Him, James potter. It hit him hard.

She. Loved. Him.  
With that realisation came the truth. The truth of what she was; The truth of what HE was; The truth of why he came home, what he'd be doing that very night; The truth of the rumours he'd been hearing for the last couple months, her plan to join Dumbledore's lot (along with James Potter and the rest of those useless, 'oh so noble' marauders); The truth as to WHY they stopped being friends; the truth to what his friends whispered menacingly to her everyday; the truth to those that she, everyday, laughed, and joked and enjoyed her time with; the truth that they now lived in completely different social circles, different worlds. The Realisation came as cold as the truth could come. They had, in fact, chosen their paths...

...they were now in fact on different sides of a war.

As if to confirm this fact to him, his fore arm suddenly burned red, white hot. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes, stood up, and emptied his mind of all the events of that afternoon, thinking only of his destination. With a last look at the Bright, sunny, rusting old playground, he tuned quickly on the spot and disapparated with a small 'pop'; Leaving only the pleasant chirping birds, the gracefully swaying grass, the rusty old creaking swing set, which was still swinging gently, and the still audible laughter of Lily Evans and James Potter; The only remnants of Severus Snape being the inaudible laughter of the past.


End file.
